The Art of Rejection
by Silence In Winter
Summary: Still licking her wounds, Elsa won't let herself fall for another rejector and Tinkerbell is about to lose her mind over the undeniable sex appeal of a certain Jack Frost. [modern AU, Jelsa, oneshot]


**A/N: While watching Peter Pan, a friend of mine brought up similarities between Peter and Jack and then after a pensive moment said, "Tinkerbell would lose her shit over Jack Frost." Thus, the seed of this idea was born and here it is. Just something quick, silly, and a tiny bit sweet.**

The Art of Rejection

"Why are we talking about murder?" Elsa asked insipidly.

"Because he was with _her_ last night." Tinkerbell snapped the pocket clip off of her pink sharpie as she spoke. "I mean, who is it, Peter? Wendy, or me? I could literally kill him. He deserves murder in cold blood at this point."

Shaking her head, Elsa said, "Well, that's his whole angle. It's an art, really. The art of rejection."

"The art of rejection?" she asked.

"Yeah, the more they reject you the harder you fall. It gives them all of the options and none of the responsibility for whatever heartache you feel."

Tink sighed. "I know, but it just gets under my skin, y'know? He thinks he's so suave and it's all okay and—ugh!" Tinkerbell slammed her calculus book shut, ripping the cover a bit.

"I know, I know. Guys get a lot of passes in their 20's and it's not fair." Elsa gently slid the textbook away from Tinkerbell as she spoke, hoping to avoid another incident. "But you're anger is playing you right into his hand."

"It's going to be okay, Tink." Zel said as she squeezed her friend's hand. "Peter really doesn't know what he's missing out on and if he did, he'd be banging your door down to date you!"

Elsa was silent, pretending to observe her notes as she listened to the other girl's cliché pep talk. At least she was keeping positive, something Elsa found difficult to do especially in regards to the intentions of men.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Tink sighed and placed her chin on her palm. "It just kind of hurts. A lot."

Zel put her arms around Tink's shoulders in a genial hug. "I know, but time heals all! Soon you'll be saying, Peter Pan who?"

For a moment, Tinkerbell was silent, staring off across the quad, the coffee in her paper cup growing as cold as her heart. Zel was still talking, trying to find the right idiom to pull Tinkerbell out of her pity while Elsa was still reading, trying to emotionally detach herself from this entire conversation. Men weren't exactly a comfortable topic for Elsa. Tinkerbell knew this, but her archnemesis, Wendy, had just been whisked off of her dainty little feet by Peter, Tink's long-time crush, and she was in need of girl therapy. Still, that didn't stop Elsa's memories.

Removing her horn-rimmed glasses, Elsa rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to keep her thoughts on the present. Today was about Tink's issues, not hers.

"Oh my gosh, look!" Zel pointed across the quad. Elsa and Tink followed her gaze to a young man wearing an a pale plaid button up shirt that was open to reveal a casual white tee. Around his neck was a pair of Skull Candy headphones whose emblem was the same cobalt blue of his eyes. The jeans he wore were a faded gray that stated without refutation that he was cool enough to have white hair.

Walking next to him was a girl about their age who clutched her books just beneath her chin and smiled up at Jack like he was the freaking sun. Her own outfit was a little confused, the brown braid she had was woven with lilac and teal feathers and her clothes were loose fitting and of the same color.

"It's Jack Frost!" Zel said, bouncing in her seat as she windmilled her fists. "I love his music! He does amazing remixes!"

Tinkerbell observed him for a moment in silence, her eyes narrowing as the pieces began fitting together.

"Oh no, Tink!" Elsa jabbed her shoulder painfully. "If Peter is a rejector, Jack wrote the book."

Tinkerbell whirled around, squinting at Elsa. "And how would you know?"

She threw her hands up innocently. "Hey, I didn't date him, I just have heard that he doesn't do relationships. Like, ever."

"And what little bird told you that?" Zel asked, a hint of skepticism in her voice.

"Well," Elsa started counting off girls on her fingers. "Zel, Merida, Astrid, Kairi,... Oh and that girl, I think her name is Thiana. She's been sweet on Jack forever but he's friend zoned her hardcore. But really, who knows what happens when they're drunk."

"Geez," Tink said. "Jealous much, Elsa?"

"Definitely not! I just wanted to warn you—"

"Yeah, yeah," Tink waved Elsa away. "I get that those sort of thing gets up your lady business. But really, he's super hot and who is to say I won't be different?"

Elsa rolled her eyes. Who was to say she would be?

"If Peter sees me with Jack," Tink said. "It'll make him jealous and I'll get him back no problem."

"Can I just tell you all of the reasons why that is a bad—"

"And," Zel said with a finger in the air, interrupting Elsa. "He makes music!"

"He _produces_ music, Zel. He's a DJ, not a singer or anything like that, just remixes. He's probably horribly tone deaf."

"Well, his songs are still good." She said meekly.

"Well, if it isn't a bushel of blondes." The voice was as smooth as vanilla and brown sugar. When Elsa looked up, the sun shining through the oak leaves hit his face like a focal map, defining his smile so she could see how sweet it really was. Standing next to Jack was Thiana, the smell of desperation overpowering his cologne.

"Hi, Jack." Elsa said. Zel and Tink twittered their own greetings like finches..

"Are we still on for later?" Jack asked, looking directly at Elsa. She nodded. "Great, I'll see you then." Elsa waved as they left. As soon as they were out of ear shot, Tink jabbed Elsa in the arm, a poignant revenge.

"So you're dating him but you don't want me to!?"

Elsa slapped her friend's hand away. "Calm down Tink! I'm not dating Jack Frost. He's not my type. At all."

"So, what was that about then?" Zel asked.

"He heard some of my songs and wanted to record me." Elsa said, shrugging. "That's all. We're going to get together tonight at the campus sound studio and record a few songs. Then he'll probably butcher it with some kind of electronics or whatever it is that he does to produce so called music."

"Okay," Tink said. "But one more question, Elsa."

"Mnn?"

"If you think his music is so bad, why do you have every album he's ever made in your phone?"

"Tink!" Elsa snatched her phone away, her face bright red. "It's none of your business!"

* * *

Elsa was staring through the sound-proof glass at Jack, a brunette kid who was too skinny to have sex appeal, and a guy with tribal tattoos and muscles that didn't look like they would fit in most shirts. The brunette kid was bobbing his head to a beat and Jack was full on moonwalking across the room, a half-full bottle of Allagash in his hand. They hadn't seen her yet, there was still time to reconsider.

With a sigh, Elsa walked forward and twisted the handle, popping the thick door open. "Cake by the Ocean" by DNCE was playing so loudly Elsa could feel her insides vibrating. Jack's back was to her as he lifted his beer.

"You're fucking delicious!" He screamed in unison with Joe Jonas, then took a long swig from the brown bottle.

The skinny kid gestured behind Jack, but he didn't seem to notice, still grooving his arms and shaking his hips to the beat of the pop song. It wasn't until Tribal Tats lowered the volume that Jack stopped.

"Yo, Aster, what gives?" Jack asked. Skinny gestured, once again, to Elsa. Jack smoothly twirled around on his feet, a smirk hitting his lips the second he saw her

"God damn," Jack said. "I'd love to see _you_ lick frosting from your own hands."

Elsa felt bile in the back of her mouth, assuming she would forever associate this flavor with Jack Frost.

"Okay," Skinny took the beer from Jack and placed it on the soundboard. "That's enough for you, Jack." The kid waved to Elsa. "Hey, I'm Hiccup, and that's Aster." He said as he jabbed a thumb at Tribal Tats, who gave a mock salute.

Elsa nodded. "Nice to meet you all. Um, are you all here for the recording? I thought it was just Jack and I?" She cast a wayward glance at Jack, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Well," Aster said, his voice a thick melody of the South Pacific. "I'm just tech support to make sure nothin' breaks. Let's Jack focus on his art, y'know?"

Jack nodded, stroking his chin as though he had a beard.

"I'm just kind of hanging." Hiccup said. "I brought the beer. Which was probably a mistake." He glanced at Jack as he said the last part, who was snapping his fingers and swaying to the beat of Cake by the Ocean, which was still playing in the background.

"Well," Elsa turned away and set down her bag. "It's nice to meet you all." She began taking out multiple binders, textbooks, and loose-leaf paper that was crumpled and stuffed in random locations. Setting the mess aside, she unzipped an internal pocket and produced sheets of paper stapled together. Certain lines had been highlighted in green, blue, and pink but definitely not yellow.

"I had a chance to look over the lyrics." Elsa said as she began stuffing everything haphazardly into her bag again. "They're really good and I'm kind of excited. You said you wanted to do a chill out type vibe with it?"

"Yeah," Jack slid the volume off, completely cutting off Joe Jonas and the rest of DNCE. "But today I don't even know if we're going to record. I just want to get a sense of your voice. Here," He handed her a pair of headphones. "The mic is all set to go. Just go into the booth when you're ready."

Elsa put her headphones on and went into the booth without hesitation, afraid he would use another lyric from what was apparently his favorite song to hit on her.

She adjusted her braid, laid the lyrics out in front of her and cleared her throat.

"I do have one question. Who originally wrote the lyrics for _Atlas Hands_?" Elsa asked. "They're really good."

"That's a Mr. Frost original." Aster supplied. "Pretty good, eh?"

Elsa bit her lip. She had spent time with this song; time in bed letting the lyrics touch her in the places _he_ had hurt her, humming it in the shower as an after thought, and defending its symbolism to her peers in Music Theory. They were good. Excellent, in fact. She had said so to many people, AKA there were witnesses.

"Oh." Was all she managed. "Who was the guy who sung the original? I really liked that."

Clearing his throat, Jack pressed the intercom button and leaned down to the microphone on his end. " _The water there is deeper than anything you've ever seen, jump right in and swim until you're free._ "

His voice was a little husky and as smooth and delicious as great sex. His voice was also identical to the one in her phone.

* * *

Four hours and half a six pack later, Aster was gone and Hiccup was scribbling at his homework in the corner, mumbling something about hours until it was due. Elsa rubbed her eyes to chase away the fatigue that was niggling at her concentration.

"That was good," Jack said. "But on the chorus I need you to stretch it a bit more. I need something I can tease."

"Tease?" Elsa said, a silver edge to her voice. "You want something you can tease? Isn't my voice clear enough?" She was a little insulted that he was already implying that he wanted to experiment with auto tune.

Jack shrugged. "I just like teasing things. All kinds of things." He winked at Elsa, who rolled her eyes.

"You seem mad."

"I'm not mad, just grossed out by your unprofessional behavior."

"Aww," He said. "C'mon, I'm not all bad."

Elsa said nothing, just flipped her music sheets back to the first page.

"Ready to go again so you can have something to 'tease?'"

"Well, you're right in front of me, so..."

"That's it!" Elsa removed her headphones and slammed them on the counter. Leaving the her music sheets on the table, she stormed through booth doors and grabbed her bag off the floor, hurling it over her shoulder with such might it knocked her off balance and into the wall.

"Wait!" Jack rushed to her side. "Let me help you."

"You've done enough." Elsa said, yanking her bag out of his skinny fingers.

"Oh Elsa," Jack said. "I'm sorry. L—Let me make it up to you. Can I buy you dinner?"

She stared at him, her gaze as hard and cold as slate.

"Uh, coffee? I just want to make it up to you."

Elsa's eyes narrowed. "Does this stuff actually work?"

"Uh, what?"

"Does this stuff actually work?" Elsa balled her fists so hard they shook. "Do girls actually fall for this 'let me make it up to you' crap?

Jack felt hot under his collar. He scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know what you're talking—"

Elsa slammed the door on the way out, the glass of the sound booth shivering from the force she used.

* * *

"He's just so hot." Tinkerbell moaned. "Like, I have to have him, you know." Zel nodded with fake empathy while Elsa chewed her pencil eraser.

"Can't you introduce me, Elsa?" Tink asked, nudging her friend with her foot.

"Not on your life." Elsa responded. "He's just a waste of time. Really pervy and super annoying."

"But so talented!" Zel said, hugging herself. Elsa just rolled her eyes.

"He's not worth it, girls. He's a rejector if I ever saw one. He throws out his little aw, I'm so charming and super into you! Then once you take the bait, sure enough," Elsa snapped her fingers. "You never knew anyone could ghost out of a relationship so quick, but you're attached now, so you start calling because you thought it was serious, but he's just having fun, so he says that, saying to the new girl that he doesn't understand why you keep calling and texting him when he made it clear you two weren't an item when by clear he means he fell off the face of the earth without a a word and the only way you get to talk to him is when you accidentally run into him at coffee with his new squeeze in her silly little Lululemon hot shorts and sports bra then he tries to say you were only ever friends. Ha! I know his type."

"Uhm..." Zel said, running her fingers through her long hair. "That was... oddly specific."

"Riku," Tink said. The lead of Elsa's automatic pencil broke from the pressure she was applying.

"Sorry, Elsa. I won't say his name again."

"No, I'm over it." Tinkerbell and Zel stared at her, heads askew. "No, seriously, I am completely over him."

Zel forced a smile. "Okay."

There was a wrap at the door. "I'll get it!" Zel cart wheeled off the bed and catapulted herself to the door. When she opened it, Skinny was standing there, holding an ice box chocolate cake that was frosted with piques of icing at the base and dusted with chocolate shavings. Cursive words in the center said, _Call me_ followed by what Elsa could only assume was his phone number.

"Uh, hey." Hiccup said, his face turning a little red as he looked at the girls clustered on the dorm bed. "Jack wanted me to bring this to Elsa." Upon hearing Jack's name, Tinkerbell whipped out her phone and began entering his number into her contacts.

Without looking up, Elsa said, "Just take it back to him."

"But you don't even want the cake?" Hiccup scooted piles of homework notes to the side on the nearest desk, making room for the cake to live. "He said chocolate is your favorite."

Elsa's head snapped up, her eyes burning into Hiccup's. "And how would he know that?"

"I—I don't know, I mean he knows people but—"

"Tell him I'm not interested."

"In the cake? I mean—"

"No," Elsa said through her teeth. "Tell him I'm not interested in him."

* * *

Night classes had to be one of the most cumbersome necessary evils Elsa had ever experienced. After spending all day in stuffy class rooms she would breeze by the cafeteria to order a sub-par sandwich and wolf it down just in time to skittle into Modern European History. It wasn't a hard class by any means, just an extremely long three hour class that let out at 9 o'clock at night. She was thankful it only happened once a week.

Tonight the professor had been especially exuberant, becoming so passionate about Napoleon's banishment that the psychology professor from next door had to pop over and ask him to tone it down.

Elsa took her glass off and used one of the legs to clip them to the front of her shirt. She rubbed her face, the cool night air felt good on her dry skin.

"Elsa!" Oh, his voice was so familiar now. "Hey, wait up!" She had been listening to it spitefully before class, cursing his apparent talent and infectious beats.

But she would never tell him that.

"Phew!" Jack clapped her on the shoulder. "I'm glad I caught you! Hey, can I take your bag?"

"Nope, I'm good." Elsa said, walking a little faster so they were out of stride.

"Okay. Well, hey, I have something to tell you."

"Not really interested, in case you can't tell.

Jack stopped walking, letting Elsa get ahead of him. For a brief moment she felt triumphant, happy that something she had said had finally sunk through his rock-hard skull.

But the next thing he said cut her open like blunt surgical scissors.

"Who the hell hurt you, Elsa?"

Her feet were frozen to the ground. Elsa closed her eyes, seeing his face in her mind's eye and feeling his hands as they brushed the hair from her eyes and studied the shape of her lips. She could hear the last thing her ever said to her. Burning Elsa's throat were all of the profanities she wanted to scream at him; at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, come on." Jack was beside her again. "Someone hurt you, now you're scared of guys like me who have a certain reputation because you don't want to feel like that again. Am I right?"

Elsa exhaled the air she had been holding tightly in her chest. His astuteness had caught her off guard. "...Yes."

Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets. Suddenly, he didn't look as threatening as he had a moment before. "Well, look, I think you're cute but I get it. I just wanted to let you know I've started working on the vocal track you recorded and I want you to hear it."

"Jack, that's okay, I—"

"No!" He put his index finger to her lips to shush her. She thought about biting it. "I have something else to tell you. It's actually pretty amazing." Elsa raised one eyebrow, extremely skeptical of him possessing the ability to produce anything good in her life.

"I showed the raw track to a producer I know and he loved your voice. He said you sounded like a broad way star."

Elsa blinked, unable to form any kind of coherent sentence. A producer? Her song? He liked it? "What does that mean? Does he—he doesn't want to buy it, does he?"

"Not yet, but here's the kicker, he wants you to record and EP track so he and his partners can get a feel for your range and I want to help you do it."

Screaming, Elsa threw her arms around Jack, not even caring he was who he was anymore.

* * *

"Okay," Jack said, tossing the music sheets into the brimming recycling bin. "We can't keep doing this."

"It's my EP," Elsa said. "It's my chance, it has to be right."

"We have so many recordings we could make an album, maybe two. You should pick three you want to go with and just perfect those instead of trying to ferret out a red herring that doesn't exist."

Suddenly, her eyes found him as though he were a stranger. Her lips were slightly parted and she held her hands together at her collar bone. It was as though he had slapped her. She shook her head softly, not quite sure how to put her emotions into words.

But Jack did. Jack hooked his thumbs into his belt loops and sighed. "You don't really think you can do this, can you?"

Looking at the floor, Elsa nodded.

"Then why are you here?"

Shocked, Elsa looked up at him, meeting his hard eyes. Jack's posture was open, his head tilted to the side as he waited for her answer. He didn't look mean and his tone was genuine. The only thing he wanted was her honesty.

"I—I—I want to make music... I want to finish the EP, and—"

"No, that's not it." Jack crossed his arms. "Look, I know you were hoping for a pep talk from me but you're getting a good dose of honesty."

"I've never lied to you, Jack."

"Oh, not to me, but to yourself, Elsa. Look, you just said you don't think you can do this, right?" Elsa nodded slowly. "Okay, so then it stands to reason, why are you here? There are really only two reasons, the first being that you are kind of like whatever, I'm just going to repetitively make trash no one is going to listen to, but that can't be right because that's just not you. So the second reason," he held up two fingers to illustrate his point. "Is that you see something in me that you find endearing and want more of."

Elsa was silent.

"Look, you've recorded so many songs you could take them to anyone and have them edited then packaged up and sent. Yet, here you are, keeping me tangled in those gorgeous blonde locks. Why? Because you know I like you and you like me back but you're too scared to admit it to yourself so you've set up a situation in which you can spend time with me without actually dating me. Which isn't super cool of you."

Closing her eyes, she took a breath. Her heart was beating fast and she was sure her fac was as pink as a rose. "I... I was thinking you were going to give me a pep talk."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. You can do this, Elsa, you have a beautiful voice, they are going to love it."

She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I'm serious about that part." He added.

"I should go." Elsa turned away from him and began shrugging into her over sized sweater. Her insides felt like they were on fire.

"Hey, if I'm right, will you go to coffee with me at Lucky Cat tomorrow?"

Taking a deep breath, Elsa turned to him, smiled, and left.

* * *

Elsa was about to open the door when an older gentleman did so for her, gesturing for her to come in. She mumbled a thank you as she stepped into the cafe, enveloped by the smell of freshly roasted coffee and French-style sweets. The warmth of the shop tickled her cold-bitten cheeks and Elsa began unwrapping her thick scarf. Behind the counter a middle-aged woman with cropped brown hair was ringing up a patron while a boy around her age was steaming milk for lattes.

She had only ever been here once or twice before but Elsa knew this was a popular haunt for university students. Zel and Tink constantly blabbered about how good everything was.

"Hey there!" Suddenly, there was paper coffee cup in her face, pale, skinny fingers wrapped around the cardboard heat guard. "I got you a mocha."

"Oh, thanks." Timidly she took the coffee from Jack. It didn't go over her head that mochas were her favorite and he somehow knew this. Wherever he had gotten his information about her taste for chocolate, it was thoughtful that he stored it away for a pertinent time like this. She followed Jack to his table where he politely closed his laptop and stowed it with his books, focusing his entire attention on Elsa.

It all started as a whole lot of nothing. They complained about finals, indulged in a common love of quality coffee, and found that they both had an affinity for books by Mitch Albom.

It wasn't until two hours had passed that Jack began to broach troubled waters.

"So," he said, leaning back against the booth. "Why are you so frightened of the opposite sex?"

Elsa pursed her lips. They had been having fun but the current topic of conversation made her want to run away screaming. "I'm not frightened... I'm just not the relationship type."

"Ha!" Jack slammed an open palm on the table. "C'mon, that's what I say to cute girls who are a little psycho and wouldn't make good relationship material. Oh, and do you know a girl named Tinkerbell?"

Her neck felt hot. "I—Uhm..."

"I guess it's not important. She's just been texting me, pretty weird, but whatever." He put his phone in his pocket again. "Anyway, I tell girls I don't actually want to seriously date that I'm not a relationship guy."

"Would you tell me you aren't a relationship guy?

Jack held her gaze so she could see the root of his answer. "No, I would not."

"And how do I know you're not lying?"

He shrugged. "Why would I lie to you, Elsa?"

"Because," she said. "You're a rejector."

He snorted. "I'm a what?"

"You know," Elsa gestured at him with her hands. "A rejector. You're the kind of guy who acts all sweet and into a girl in the beginning and you're so good at flirting and so attentive and then, like, six weeks maybe even six months in you just get cold feet and suddenly disappear. And, if you do respond, you say things like we were never serious or we were just having fun to justify your chill and Netflix way of life. And when you pull back, it only makes girls like me like you even more because we feel like we did something wrong and have to fix it so we can get back that attention you gave us in the beginning." Her words were tumbling over each other as she spoke. "Meanwhile, you sit back, twiddle your thumbs, and see everything play out with the old girl while you're courting a new one. It's like this weird, twisted, psychological art that guys like you possess."

The student at the table next to them was staring but when Elsa glanced his way he stuck his nose back in his laptop where it belonged.

Jack was pensive a moment. He took the lid off of his coffee and nibbled at the whipped cream on the surface. Setting it down, he said, "That's quite an essay you've constructed."

Once again Elsa's eyes moved from his, observing the scuffed toes of her converse. "I've... dated a few rejectors."

"I have a joke for you." Jack said.

"Okay, what is it."

"Why are men like plastic bags and women like remotes?"

Elsa sighed. "I don't know." She wasn't feeling great after her admonition and felt like she would just lose him now. She wasn't really sure why she had said everything that she did but there was no taking it back now. Even though she hadn't anticipated this to go anywhere it wouldn't make his rejection of her sting any less.

"Hey," Jack touched her hand. "Because men are full of shit and you can see right through them." To this, Elsa smiled a little. "And girls, well, damn, you just keep pushing buttons and hope something works."

"Ha," She said, not moving her hand away from his. "That's cute."

"My point is, Elsa, I'm a guy. Someone as smart and talented as you can see through any bullshit," He snapped his fingers. "Just like that. And I really, really like that."

"Y-You do?"

Jack nodded. "Yes, I do. Guys like me, honestly, we don't even mean to hurt girls. We just, I don't know," he shrugged. "it just stops being good for us and we get ready to move on but. Some girls hold our attention for longer than others. We aren't sure how to end it in a way that won't hurt you. It's easier to never see you again than to tell you we don't want to be with you and then watch you cry and ask why you weren't good enough and stuff when really, most of the time it has nothing to do with you."

She wrinkled her nose. "So you know it hurts."

"Yeah, but life hurts." He took another sip of his coffee. "You just have to find the people worth suffering for."

Elsa snorted. "What inspirational meme did you get that from?"

"Hey! That's a Bob Marley quote!"

"Oh, I don't listen to reggae."

Jack shook his head, leaning back in his seat. "Oh, Elsa, what am I going to do with you."

"Try to date me." She said. In the half second his brain took to catch the words, he leaned forward and Elsa felt her face turn as hot as her mocha. She busied her braid with her hands.

"What would you say if I told you that I have been trying to date you for a long time?"

"Jack, two months isn't that long—"

"No, no," Jack waved his hands. "I'm not talking about that. Let me ask you, how do you think I knew you loved chocolate cake?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. You forced it out of Tinkerbell or Zel?

"Oh so you do know her!"

Elsa's shoulders slumped, embarrassed that she had let this slip.

"Ah, that's not important. Well, do you remember freshman orientation four years ago? The lock-in that they did for the incoming students?"

She nodded, blushing little. "Yeah, it was kind of silly. I felt so grown up, being away from my parents for that long. But I don't remember seeing you there?"

"Ah," he sighed. "My hair was a different color and I looked super different. No game whatsoever. But do you remember why the police were called?"

Elsa's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh no. How do you know—"

"Because I was there!" He grinned. "I thought you were so cool and hot and I was like, oh my gosh, she'll never be into a scrawny dude like me."

"I'm so embarrassed that you know that was me, Jack."

"Well, that's why I wanted to get you a whole chocolate cake to yourself. I figured if you liked chocolate so much you had to sneak out of a lock-in at midnight and risk getting kicked out of the school to get some, it must be pretty damn important to you." He shook his head, smiling. "The counselors were so pissed."

"Really? What did they do?"

"Well, I'm sure they riffled through the girls dormitory first. By the time they got to the guys, they were all screaming at each other like psychos. I mean, these are people who were seniors like you and me now. Imagine losing a seventeen year old kid on campus that you are responsible for. Think of all of the parties, drinks, and just general trouble a teenager could get into. And when they finally found you at that diner eating half a cake? Holy crap, I knew, I just knew you were cool."

Elsa giggled. "All I wanted was cake. They didn't have any left at the cafeteria."

Jack smiled. "They should have known better."

Despite herself, Elsa returned his smile. Their hands were still touching.

"Elsa," Jack said, "I have been waiting for almost four years to buy you this cup of coffee. I made damn sure I was going to get it right."

"Four years is a long time."

"Well," he shrugged. "Who do you think I wrote _Atlas Hands_ for?"

* * *

Elsa's lips were inches from the microphone. " _..._ _The water there is deeper than anything you've ever seen. Jump right in and swim until you're free._ _"_

Jack was tapping his heel to keep the beat, his hands cupping the base of the microphone. " _I will remember your face, 'cause I am still in love with that place._ _"_

On the other side of the glass, three men in suits of importance sat on a leather couch, their legs crossed in the same fashion as their hands. Elsa couldn't read them and it made her prickle with fear more than effort. She glanced at Jack beside her, who was singing his part of the bridge focused solely on the music instead of her. And then he fell silent, her cue.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the chorus from the center of her soul. " _B_ _ut when the stars are the only thing we share, will you be there?_ "The lyrics Jack had written falling from her lips. _"_ _Will you be there?_ _"_ On the last note she gracefully lengthened her voice, using the air in her lungs to tease the hidden meaning of the words just long enough for the men on the other side to begin to look at one another. The one on the far left began nodding slowly.

Jack joined her again at the bridge. " _I_ _'ve got a plan... I've got an atlas in my hands..._ _"_

But they held up their hands for Jack and Elsa to stop. Holding their breath, Jack and Elsa glanced at each other. He crossed his fingers behind his back and smiled at her. When they looked back at the men on the other side, they were not only standing but applauding.

* * *

Tipping her plastic champagne flute back, Elsa downed everything, the bubbly floating smoothly down her throat. The tide nipped at her heels, frothy sea from and sand collecting between her painted toes. Half way beyond the horizon, the sun cast an orange and pink glow across the sky that illuminated Elsa's hair like iridescent gold. She lifted the empty glass. "To us."

"Slow down there, you need something in your glass to actually make a toast." Giggling, she let Jack refill her on champagne.

"Are you happy we came to Los Angeles to complete the record?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "I am happy about that. But you know what makes me even happier?"

"What?"

"Go stand back in the water and I'll tell you."

Obligingly, Elsa stepped back into the waves. She pulled the tie from her hair, letting the beachy blonde waves fall over her shoulders like sunshine.

"Mmm," Jack held up his hands like a picture frame. "This, this makes makes me happier than anything. With the sun hitting you like this, oh my God, you look absolutely delicious."

Elsa smiled, shimmying as she ran her fingers through her hair. "You want a taste?"

Ripping his shirt off, Jack ran through the break to her, grabbing her body and pulling her against his bare chest so he could taste her salty lips. "I can't believe it," he said between kisses. "I finally get cake by the ocean." Grinning, Elsa pulled him down into the waves and climbed on top of him as quick as a cat.

* * *

 **A/N: And there it is. The irony of this all? Having rejected Jack for 4 years and then continuing to after his apparent interest, Elsa is, the ultimate rejector even though she is afraid of them breaking her heart. "Cake by the Ocean" belongs to DNCE. "Atlas Hands" is actually by** **Benjamin Francis Leftwich and the remix (my favorite version) is by Thomas Jack. I almost used "Snowship" and this fic was actually written with that song in mind, but I felt like "Atlas Hands" had a more romantic feel. Getting to the end of this, there were so many elements present in this oneshot. A big one is that I hate the dating scene as a 20 something. Everyone is selfish and out for themselves. Isn't the whole idea of dating to be able to care for someone else unconditionally? -le sigh- Oh well! Life keeps rolling.  
**


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